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First OU Team

Hi guys,

First off: I'm a total beginner. I only tried my hand at competitive battling last week, and haven't really battled much since. So I thought I'd try my hand at building a team for myself. This is a first attempt so let me know what you think.

- Accelgor is my lead, mainly because of its blinding fast pace. Mainly used to set up at least 1 layer of Spikes. In other cases, I might use Bug Buzz against lead Tyranitars/Espeons, or U-Turn to something safer.

- The last all-out Special attacker in my team, mainly here to finish up what the other 5 have started. With solid coverage and stats, should not be a problem to clean up.

I'd believe these to be my issues:
1. Rain teams - You may notice that I do not play with weather effects, and that's mainly because I can't seem to bring myself yet to play around with weather effects. Rain teams will allow Ferrothorn, Forretress and Scizor to wall my team, as Magnezone's HP Fire won't be doing much under rain.

2. Lack of spinner - While Jellicent is my spinblocker, but I lack a spinner of my own. Though given the number of pokemon with resistances to Stealth Rock, I don't know if this is a large enough issue.

3. Lack of a Dragon type - Maybe it's just me but my impression is that every team has at least one powerful Dragon pokemon that should sweep teams. I don't have one, because I don't see a space for one.

4. Dugtrio - How useful will it be in trapping and killing problem Pokemon? Would there be an alternative to this? I'm thinking Heracross, Infernape or Lucario.

5. Lack of Dark types - May give me a problem with Ghost types in the future, specifically Gengar. Though not that many of my Pokemon suffer from weakness to Ghost or Dark bar Jellicent

6. Natural Fire type weakness - 4 of the Pokemon on my team are weak to Fire attacks. Though I don't know how well Jellicent can hold out Fire types.

7. Accelgor - While I like how cool Accelgor looks, I wonder if I have other better viable options as a lead. I'm looking for a fast lead with access to U-Turn or Volt Switch, with good set up capability. Mainly to prevent getting Taunted. If I were to stick with Accelgor, would Final Gambit be advisable for taking out a potential problem Pokemon in one shot (at full health)?

These seem to be all the issues I can think of, would appreciate it if I can be given feedback in which direction to go. Thanks!

Hey you're from the OO clan right? Me too Alright, I'll try to help a bit with the team.
Firstly, your accelgor is almost useless when the opponent has a spinner. It may be very fast and I don't know how it fares when trying to revenge kill opposing threats, but it's RU for a reason. It is very frail and almost everyone in OU carries priorities, who'll kill accelgor off in no time.
The same goes for dugtrio. It too, is very fast and very frail. I would suggest replacing at least one of them. good replacements would be a fire counter and a rain counter. You could try something like latios, who is fast too, though also has some bulk, counters fire and can fire of immensely powerful draco meteor's. It also resists both water and electric moves, both commonly seen on rain teams.

While dedicated leads are no longer as significant thanks to Team Preview, Azelf still has the ability to successfully pull off a Stealth Rock lead set like it did during its DPP days. However, it also can do much more; Azelf is able to revenge kill Pokemon due to its fantastic offensive stats, and with U-turn, it can handily nab momentum at any point in a match. Stealth Rock is one of the main reasons to use Azelf as it cripples Pokemon like Dragonite, Gyarados, and Volcarona upon entering battle. It's also handy for limiting opposing switches, which is important for offensive teams which Azelf functions in. Explosion is another selling point of this set, as it effectively KOes troublesome Pokemon that may be trying to set up on one's team.

Azelf's last moveslot is a tossup between what a team requires. Azelf has a reliable STAB attack in Zen Headbutt which allows Azelf to beat Terrakion, Mienshao, Gengar, Infernape, and even Virizion. Conversely, choosing Zen Headbutt leaves Azelf completely walled by Steel-types and grants Scizor a free switch in. As such, Azelf can also run Fire Blast, as it allows Azelf to always OHKO both Scizor and Ferrothorn. Azelf always has to fear Scizor's Bullet Punch, but it never can OHKO Azelf at full health. Ice Punch is another move that is viable because it can provide a check to unboosted Dragon-types such as Dragonite, Salamence, and Haxorus after a bit of prior damage.

Froslass's lone niche in the OU metagame is its combination of high Speed, access to Spikes, and Ghost typing. This simple Spikes set allows Froslass to abuse its access to the fairly exclusive move, and in conjunction with its Ghost typing, Froslass can set up Spikes without worrying about them being spun away. Taunt is another great move in Froslass's arsenal, allowing it to prevent other Pokemon from setting up most of the time, thanks to its high base 110 Speed. The final support move Froslass is able to offer is Destiny Bond. In conjunction with Taunt, Froslass can easily score itself a KO, as the opponent is forced to attack, meaning Froslass brings it down as well. There are two options for an offensive move. Ice Beam is Froslass's most reliable STAB move, and has a decent Base Power. However, considering that Froslass is mostly used on hail teams to abuse Snow Cloak, Blizzard can be used for its higher Base Power.

Now neither of these are as fast as Accelgor, but they aren't too frail and can pack a punch. Froslass adds fire, dark, and ghost weakness, while Azelf adds Bug, Dark, and Ghost. Ice Beam and Blizzard will hit neutrally against Ferro, but not Scizor. You could score an easy KO with Froslass by using Destiny Bond then Taunt so they are forced to kill you, and end up being KO'd.

There are those who follow Smogon and those who follow Karen, people who raise their Pokemon and people who catch 'em wild. There are competitive battlers and breeders.

But none of that really defines Pokemon. What defines it is your very first Charmander or Mudkip or Turtwig. What defines it is that team that grew from that, the journey you went on. It's about learning about branch evolutions and held items. Those glitches and lies you'd tell about Pikablu and getting behind Bill's house. It's about a community that has become worldwide. It's about this community, one that you're a part of as you read this very board.

After trying out with that team for a bit, it's actually weak on so many areas I don't even know where to begin...susceptibility to weather teams and status made me decide to learn how to pick a weather team instead.

- Azelf is my new lead Pokemon. I'm giving it Focus Sash so that it can at least Stealth Rock/Rain Dance, then U-turn out safely. Also I picked Thunder over other options like Fire Blast or Thunderbolt because I'm playing a rain team.

- I feel like Tentacruel kinda lacks punch. I don't know when would be the ideal time to bring out Tentacruel, he seems to fall pretty easily regardless of opposition. But I don't know if swapping out for Starmie would be a better option for my team.

- Maybe there might be a better item to give to Metagross than Air Balloon, perhaps a Lum Berry for if someone tries to cripple him with Thunder Wave? Agility is the crux of the set, making Metagross outspeed most other Pokemon without a priority move.

- My rain team was mainly built around Kingdra and Swift Swim, this is why I didn't choose to use a Politoed instead (since Drizzle and Swift Swim combination are banned in OU). Basically when I see a Politoed, I'm already smiling to myself.

- As with any Rain team, this set is commonly walled by Pokemon like Ferrothorn and Scizor. There is also a lack of Fire moves or Pokemon on my team, but I can't seem to find a space to add one. Another potential threat to my team is Zapdos, since I don't have a Pokemon capable of absorbing Electric moves.

- Rain Dance is there for these reasons: Azelf will have a 100% accurate Thunder (if it's still up by turn 2), Kingdra will gain double Speed and boosted Hydro Pump (I'm not sure if Surf will be better for the accuracy), Tentacruel can utilize Rain Dish and increased Scald damage, and Tornadus-T will like 100% accurate Hurricane. Although I don't know if having 3 pokemon on the team with Rain Dance is actually hindering me or benefiting me.

- Having problems fitting in a spinblocker, a counter to Ghost/Grass/Electric Pokemon in general, and still struggling with negative status effects.

With this team I tend to go 50-50 so far - I lose some and I win some. Basically it all comes down to the opponent's niche Pokemon. For example, a Togekiss flinching my team 8 times in a row - I can't really do anything about that.

Hey you're from the OO clan right? Me too Alright, I'll try to help a bit with the team.
Firstly, your accelgor is almost useless when the opponent has a spinner. It may be very fast and I don't know how it fares when trying to revenge kill opposing threats, but it's RU for a reason. It is very frail and almost everyone in OU carries priorities, who'll kill accelgor off in no time.
The same goes for dugtrio. It too, is very fast and very frail. I would suggest replacing at least one of them. good replacements would be a fire counter and a rain counter. You could try something like latios, who is fast too, though also has some bulk, counters fire and can fire of immensely powerful draco meteor's. It also resists both water and electric moves, both commonly seen on rain teams.

Lastly, I personally prefer choice scarf on genesect, as it can revenge kill much more, without being killed by somehing that's faster (e.g. moxiemence, terrakion, dragon dance dragonite)

Hope this helped!

Hi Treecko, yes I'm from the OO clan too! Though I'm trying to pull my weight by being a better battler.

I've just updated my team as the above post shows, perhaps you can give me another re-evaluation? The Latios you suggested would really be akin to the Kingdra currently on my team, without the sustain.

For Heracross I'd suggest Toxic Orb instead since Burn does more damage and halves your attack. And I know you already swapped out Jellicent but that could work as a spinblocker. Starmie would just add extra coverage that you already have, so it isn't a necessity.

There are those who follow Smogon and those who follow Karen, people who raise their Pokemon and people who catch 'em wild. There are competitive battlers and breeders.

But none of that really defines Pokemon. What defines it is your very first Charmander or Mudkip or Turtwig. What defines it is that team that grew from that, the journey you went on. It's about learning about branch evolutions and held items. Those glitches and lies you'd tell about Pikablu and getting behind Bill's house. It's about a community that has become worldwide. It's about this community, one that you're a part of as you read this very board.

There are those who follow Smogon and those who follow Karen, people who raise their Pokemon and people who catch 'em wild. There are competitive battlers and breeders.

But none of that really defines Pokemon. What defines it is your very first Charmander or Mudkip or Turtwig. What defines it is that team that grew from that, the journey you went on. It's about learning about branch evolutions and held items. Those glitches and lies you'd tell about Pikablu and getting behind Bill's house. It's about a community that has become worldwide. It's about this community, one that you're a part of as you read this very board.

Damp Rock on Azelf and if you're going to use rain that way, utilize the advantage that other Drizzle users don't have; Swift Swim. For starters, I'd swap out Metagross for Keldeo as it's amazing in Rain with STAB Hydro Pump off that great Special Attack. Also, Tentacruel doesn't really pull it's weight as you don't really have time to set up Toxic Spikes and output passable damage at best. Rain teams like this one need to keep momentum and constant pressure of the opponent. If you direly want a spinner, go for Offensive Starmie. Packs a big punch with STAB Hydro Pump + Life Orb. I'd also try Kabutops over Heracross. Kabu has Swift Swim which boosts it's average speed to awesome levels and with a good base attack of 115, it can power off hard hitting Waterfalls and also has access to Swords Dance if you want to go that route. Last change, I'd turn Kingdra to a Double Dance set Dragon Dance/Rain Dance/Waterfall/Outrage.

Damp Rock on Azelf and if you're going to use rain that way, utilize the advantage that other Drizzle users don't have; Swift Swim. For starters, I'd swap out Metagross for Keldeo as it's amazing in Rain with STAB Hydro Pump off that great Special Attack. Also, Tentacruel doesn't really pull it's weight as you don't really have time to set up Toxic Spikes and output passable damage at best. Rain teams like this one need to keep momentum and constant pressure of the opponent. If you direly want a spinner, go for Offensive Starmie. Packs a big punch with STAB Hydro Pump + Life Orb. I'd also try Kabutops over Heracross. Kabu has Swift Swim which boosts it's average speed to awesome levels and with a good base attack of 115, it can power off hard hitting Waterfalls and also has access to Swords Dance if you want to go that route. Last change, I'd turn Kingdra to a Double Dance set Dragon Dance/Rain Dance/Waterfall/Outrage.

While I think that ramping up my use of Rain Dance might seem beneficial at first, however I still have no solid answer for Ferrothorn, or Lightning based teams unless I add in something like Swampert or Gastrodon. Problem being I don't have a Pokemon that can sponge an opposing 100% Thunder.

The Dugtrio suggestion by azeem40 is good, but I can't see a way to put it into this team...unless I drop Metagross which then compounds my team's Grass weakness further.

If you put Hammer Arm on Metagross it would most likely KO Ferro although you would recieve Iron Barbs damage. Same with Hercross and Close Combat. As mentioned above, Keldeo would be somewhat of a viable option with Secret Sword, and Keldeo also can set up with Calm Mind.

There are those who follow Smogon and those who follow Karen, people who raise their Pokemon and people who catch 'em wild. There are competitive battlers and breeders.

But none of that really defines Pokemon. What defines it is your very first Charmander or Mudkip or Turtwig. What defines it is that team that grew from that, the journey you went on. It's about learning about branch evolutions and held items. Those glitches and lies you'd tell about Pikablu and getting behind Bill's house. It's about a community that has become worldwide. It's about this community, one that you're a part of as you read this very board.

You definitely want a Damp Rock on Azelf. It's fast enough to get the rain off anyway and the extra 3 turns make a world of difference in many situations. Rocks, awesome. Thunder, good, capitalizing on the rain. U-turn for scouting, I'm guessing? Also good.

I feel like you'd be better off swapping Heracross for something else. As you've mentioned you have a Grass problem and Fire in the rain is not the best idea, you might look at Ferrothorn (I find I've been recommending Ferro a lot lately...). You lose out on some offense but you get a Spiker and wall (or, if you just don't want to lose the offensive presence, it has a Choice Band set that actually works as well, although I've never used it outside Trick Room). It loves the rain too, absolutely loves it. And a Ferro (any set) counters the Ghost-, Grass- and Electric-types that you've been having trouble with, to a degree. It resists their STABs at any rate.

Pretty standard Ferro here. You have Spikes as a nice hazard that gives it something to do while the opponent switches, Leech Seed supplementing Leftovers recovery, Protect for scouting and an attack move that hits respectably hard, believe it or not. It benefits hugely from the rain, effectively removing Ferro's Achilles heel, it's 4x Fire weakness. It still doesn't particularly like Fire, but 2x is manageable.

This set is kinda weird, I know. But Ferrothorn has an Atk stat of 472.5 (is that 472 or 473?) with the given spread and a Band equipped. Power Whip has 180 Base Power factoring STAB. Gyro Ball has 225 Base Power in most situations, factoring in STAB. Those, coming off that Atk stat, will catch a lot of things off-guard. And seriously hurt things. Bulldoze is a bit weak but it hits Fire-types that resist both STABs hard (Heatran in particular) and in the rain, Ferro should be able to survive long enough to bring 'em down. Explosion VS Spikes is interesting - Spikes seems like a really weird move for a Choice set, but it's a usable alternative to Explosion, which in my opinion is not a great choice. It only hits a bit harder than Ferro's Gyro Ball in most cases and costs you a Poke. Spikes, on the other hand, still gives you that hazard and lets you bluff your Ferro as a support so they send in the wrong counters. Then you switch, bring it back, they bring their counter back and you KO the switch.

It can also run a Curse set with Gyro Ball, but I'm not typing that out. 2 sets for one Poke is enough for now xD

I'd go for Starmie over Tentacruel. T-Spikes is not really needed and Starmie has really nice Spe. I don't use it much though, so it doesn't feel right recommending a set. Smogon'll have one though.

For your Tornadus, I'd say you might try Superpower over Focus Blast for reliable, if lower, damage. The stat drops are fine, you have U-Turn, which also triggers Regenerator.

I'd keep Air Balloon because Ground-types are probably the biggest threats to Metagross in the rain. Besides that, this looks good.

Kingdra, I prefer Hydro Pump to Surf, mainly because the damage is so much better while not getting awful accuracy. Maybe Ice Beam over Dragon Pulse? I can see the reason for Dragon Pulse though.

"Whether Castform the Weather Pokemon can weather the weather is dependent on whether the weather that it's weathering is the proper weather for it to weather. Whether the opponent can weather the weather is also subject to whether the weather that it's weathering is the right weather to weather. Whether Castform can weather the opponent is once again dictated by the weather and whether that weather is the favorable weather for weathering. But most importantly, you should know whether there will be weather to weather rather than what weather they will be weathering and whether they can weather that weather."

I find that these days I hardly ever use Tornadus-T any more. Like if I had a choice to put in a pokemon to the field, I hardly ever choose Tornadus-T these days. Whether it's the frailty or the lack of Pokemon weak to Flying attacks in the OU meta, I am not sure. Either way I am thinking of replacing it with Toxicroak.

@loco1234: That Ferrothorn suggestion was immensely awesome! Now my team no longer has problems with Haxorus, and many other Pokemon.

- Rapid spinner, with great BoltBeam coverage. I prefer to leave Thunderbolt on Starmie instead of giving it Thunder so that it can function well outside of rain as well (for a special attacker, Kingdra would be my first choice, so the situation where Starmie is without rain support is somewhat frequent).

- Primary choice physical attacker. Unbeatable under rain (except maybe by some really strong Sucker Punch), Waterfall does a lot of damage even when unresisted, and the chance for flinch is really icing on the cake.

- Primary choice special attacker. Walled by enemy Ferrothorns (maybe Kabutops and Low Kick can remedy that problem? Though I'll have to watch out for a Power Whip, which is again where Tornadus-T comes in handy). No Pokemon will like taking Hydro Pump under rain, and Draco Meteor is mainly for a last effort sweep (due to the huge drop in Sp. Atk after - personally I prefer using Dragon Pulse).

This team is looking pretty good. However I was wondering if Toxicroak would be a viable replacement for Tornadus-T.

While 100% Hurricanes are a very solid answer to Fighting pokemon, I feel that Toxicroak can help rid me of problematic Pokemon like Gengar. And also as a more solid check to Ferrothorn. Other than that, I also think I have too many special attackers and only one true physical attacker (Kabutops) which is in itself quite frail without rain support.

Try maybe Double Dance or SubDance Kingdra? 1-2 DDs and other team is gone bar Ferrothorn and a few others. If you want a more bulky Hurricane user, you can try Dragonite, lower speed and power but more bulk and great physical base stat, can function as a good mixed attacker.

Dance Kingdra really only works with a physical set. I intend to use Kingdra as either a mixed attacker skewed to Sp. Atk or a pure special sweeper.

Just tried Toxicroak in place of Tornadus-T. Made at least 2 opponents rage quit - after a Swords Dance, nothing that can outspeed it can beat it. And for those that can potentially outspeed it, there's always Sucker Punch.

Ferrothorn also won me a game or two.

I am also wondering if my team looks too predictable. From what I can see, if someone were to preview my team, only Azelf would look like the most potential candidate for lead.

Genesect and Metagross can function as leads so you aren't that predictable. The Pokemon themselves are pretty predictable however in terms of their movesets and what they do with everyone except maybe Genesect and Metagross and Genesect is pretty predictable once you figure out if it's scarfed or not.

generally genesect has perfect neutral coverage against your entire team. you do not want to face one especially the rock polish set. If kingdra is weakened badly and no rain is up. you'll have to worry about genesect.

BRELOOM is the new revenge killer since Technician was released. If Tornadus-T and Starmie are below half, a +2 Breloom will rape the rest of your team. Toxicroak does wall Breloom to a certain extent but still...... you'll have to remember to have either of them at at least 75% before sending them in to take a mach punch.

Your team seems to lack a way of hitting Ninetails hard enough to take it out in one shot (bar Kabutops but if ninetails is in more than likely sun is up and it can outspeed you and OHKO). If Sun is up and you can't get rid of it completely it might pose a problem to your team as you try to rain dance and get rid of the sun. You might want a spin blocker to stop rapid spin and keep your rocks on the field.

And of course Terrakion has neutral coverage on your team too. Banded terrakion should be handled easily by Starmie and to counter Scarf make sure you predict well and keep Ferro at above 75% tolive a CC and follow up with a power whip or leech seed.

Ferro shouldn't have too much problems with a Tenta. Just remember not to leech seed and just spam power whip and hope he doesn't burn you any time soon with scald. If he scalds you could easily send in starmie maybe or toxicroak if you want to include it and then hit him hard.

On the choice between Tornadus-T and Toxicroak, your team doesn't have a pokemon with which can work as a reliable revenge killer (kabutops have to rely on rain so i don't really count him in) as starmie may not always have the power if it's a Ferro.So keeping Tornadus-T may ensure you have another fast pokemon to rely on. Toxicroak works as a good late game sweeper and he probably would have more use as it also walls terrakion decently. Do note it is not the most bulky thing in the world so it can't take as much hits as you want. Also don't use cross chop because you will miss

I love dragons, not because they're all powerful and whatever. Just don't ask

Toxicroak is a pretty good rain abuser, yeah. I've run a Sub-Punch set before that got me a number of KOs but I ended up using something else over it. I don't rememeber what... I'll have to dig that team up later and check (at school now). It can be solid though and it has (unreliable) priority in Sucker Punch.

"Whether Castform the Weather Pokemon can weather the weather is dependent on whether the weather that it's weathering is the proper weather for it to weather. Whether the opponent can weather the weather is also subject to whether the weather that it's weathering is the right weather to weather. Whether Castform can weather the opponent is once again dictated by the weather and whether that weather is the favorable weather for weathering. But most importantly, you should know whether there will be weather to weather rather than what weather they will be weathering and whether they can weather that weather."

Anyways, the team looks really good, except perhaps Kabutops. While Kabutops is certainly fast in the rain, he's still outsped by a swathe of Scarf users, and he's not that strong. Why not use a Shell Smash Omastar or something in his place? Same idea, more power.

I dunno, just a suggestion. I don't have much experience with weather teams.